[03:01:50] --- LordNigh2 is now known as Lord_Nightmare
[08:13:50] --- ettin_ is now known as ettin
[17:16:14] <Wudan> guess who's cooking up some blender scripts for exult3d mesh import/export?
[17:19:08] * Baastuul points to a hunched-over figure in the corner of the room.
[17:19:12] <Baastuul> I bet he is!
[17:19:22] <Baastuul> Everybody, let us rush over to the hunched-over figure and inquire into his doings!
[17:19:27] <Baastuul> Yes! This is what we must do!
[17:19:32] * Baastuul pushes past Wudan in excitement.
[18:06:51] <Wudan> :P
[22:17:45] <Sir_Fawnpug> This is off topic (and if it's too far off topic, I won't continue the conversation), but I was curious what people in here thought about usecode. I'm thinking about taking a similar approach to object scripting in a game I'm working on, and was wondering if it was a boon or a burden to the developers?
[22:18:40] <wjp> any particular aspect of usecode, or just the concept of a scripting language in general?
[22:19:07] <Sir_Fawnpug> Well, the concept of a weakly typed virtual machine executing object scripts
[22:20:33] <Sir_Fawnpug> A lot of people have told me that requiring a VM for my object scripts is a sign of bad design, but I'm still considering the idea because it seems to make sense (and must have certainly helped make exult possible)
[22:23:20] <wjp> hm, the concept of having a scripting language 'run' the game is certainly a very popular one nowadays
[22:25:22] <Sir_Fawnpug> What I was looking at doing was executing p-code compiled from some higher level scripting language, mostly to take the burden of parsing off of the game itself
[22:25:32] <Sir_Fawnpug> (Which, I understand, is how Usecode also works)
[22:25:37] <wjp> correct
[22:25:56] <wjp> the usecode file contains compiled bytecode
[22:26:54] <Sir_Fawnpug> I guess what I'm asking is do you find the runtime overhead of a VM justifiable for the kind of game Ultima is?
[22:28:53] <Sir_Fawnpug> The kind of engine I'm writing is pretty similar to Ultima 6, and I'm not quite sure what Origin did there, so the usecode idea seems like it could be worth a shot
[22:29:22] <wjp> hm, probably, yes. Of course there are both quite a few advantages and disadvantages to it
[22:29:57] <wjp> disadvantages include: speed, added complexity of writing/designing a VM/language
[22:30:32] <Sir_Fawnpug> Well, the speed is not a primary concern of mine at the moment; I think writing the VM and the language would be fun, haha
[22:31:17] <wjp> advantages include: better separation between engine and scripts, freedom to pick a more suitable language for the scripts than the engine language
[22:31:36] <wjp> and probably quite a few others on both sides of the argument
[22:32:23] <Sir_Fawnpug> Well, I might give it a go, then
[22:37:28] <wjp> U7's way of doing it is somewhat sub-optimal, though, so don't copy too much from the design of U7's usecode :-)
[22:37:53] <wjp> there's something to be said for picking an existing language as a scripting language, too
[22:38:16] <wjp> (lua is a popular choice, I believe)
[22:42:03] <Sir_Fawnpug> wjp, yeah, there are a lot of games that seem to use lua and python these days